According to the magazine about straight-laced auto motors and sports, the next generation of the underwhelming BMW 1-Series won't be more exciting to look at, but will feature an exciting range of three-cylinder turbocharged engines.

Why such a weird configuration? Three-cylinders are light and torquey, just what you want from a small engine. Bolt on a turbocharger and they're light, more torquey and actually make enough power to get out of their own way. And yes, we did just write a sentence about BMW in which we used the word "light" twice without being sarcastic either time.

South African car mag CarMag.co.za brings us this spy shot, which doesn't really reveal anything unless you're in the mood for tripy camo, but Auto Motor Und Sport brings us these five potential engines for the next 1-series: